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On Saturday, Jon and I were invited for lunch with friends Kevin and Litza in Toronto. As we arrived and were saying “hello” to Kevin in his driveway, a gentleman passed on the street with his wife and baby.
This man was a hasidic Jew, wearing a very large fur hat called a shtreimel. Here below is a photo of two man wearing shtreimel hats:

Now I ask you, is there anything you could put upon your head that would scream “Look at me!” any louder?

As this family passed by, Kevin commented something to the effect that he admires these men who are so bold to proclaim in no uncertain terms and to all the world, who they are and where their faith lies. (Isn’t it so wonderful when somebody can point out something beautiful that you had failed to notice?)

He said “You cannot look at a Christian and tell who he is. Well, except that some people have a fish on the back of their car.” His idea was that we should all be as bold to make ourselves known as really belonging to Christ as the Jewish people in his neighbourhood are bold to proclaim their own belief.
But we don’t have hats or T-shirts or hairstyles to identify us. We have to proclaim our faith in words first, and then by our behaviour.
We have to decide to make it known that our identity is in Christ. We need to be free and eager to to do what’s required to say “Look at Christ!”

But lots of time we are afraid of confrontation. Or we don’t feel confident of our ability to articulate our faith. It’s fear.
And actually, if we are speaking for Christ, if we are standing firmly in opposition to evil, we can be sure that we will meet opposition. But we must learn to meet it, to march toward it knowing that we are defending the only one worth defending.

Because I belong to the one who is truth, I can rest in Him. It’s His universe, so I can humbly and gently and with kindness step out in obedient faith, speech and action. Because I belong to the one who owns it all. I am not an uninvited guest, and I need never behave as if I were, by hiding the one to whom I belong.